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About The frontier. (O'Neill City, Holt County, Neb.) 1880-1965 | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1957)
Prairieland Talk— ’57 ‘ Worst Blizzard* a Misnomer By HO .MAINE SAI'NDEKA, 4110 South 51st St., Uncoln 6, N>br. LINOOl-N A popular little monthly publi cation came out with a story in its last month's issue telling of "the worst blizzard in the plains states in the memory of anyone now living." The story said the storm struck us during the final week of March last. Many praineland dwellers hadn't heard of it. But how many now living heard of it, ex perienced it, survived it, while others they knew or heard atxxit froze to death in "the worst blizzard in the memory of those now living the blizzard which swept the plains states on January 12, 1888, leaving prairieland strewn with dead cattle, here-and-there a man, a woman, a country school teacher found frozen to death. There was the grand- Saunders mother of the Dustin com munity on her way to Stuart with her little granddaughter found frozen, the school teacher in a haystack less than 10 miles out from O’Neill, a homesteader northwest of town, two others on the open prairie of Wheeler county, from other localities came stories of those found frozen. That was the one "plains states" weather event that is memorialized by the January Bliz zard club which meets annually on January 12 in Lincoln. What the weatherman did on the “plains states” last March was a summer afternoon com pared to that day in January 69 years ago. » m t It Is said to be an Invasion from Asia. Probably the kids flows at Albion are glad tor the invasion that has closed up the town schools. A number of cases of flu Impelled the authorities In the Boone county town to pro hibit public gatherings and close the schools. • • • Two and a half miles east of the northeast limits of O'Neill a homesteader in the long ago wanted to sell his claim and take to the open road. So he painted on a lx>ard and put it on a stake out in front where a stray passerby might see it. This was the notice: "For Sail.” Wits of the time when winds blew and dust from the field on ; that homesteader's land filled the air observed that his claim was sailing. Whether the wrong sale banner was floated through ignorance or spelled that way to attract attention, the home steader got a buyer in the person of Frank Hunt ley. The Huntley family lived there some years and then went to a little town in Colfax county, later moving to Stanton. Maybe Den Murphy, a mile east and a mile north of O'Neill, is one sur vivior of the "Michigan settlement" who may j remember the "sail" notice and the Huntleys who fell for it. • • • An unorthodox religious group says "all per sons of goodwill are welcome.” Probably mean ing if you will he good. I had the impression that a church was the place to teach you to be good. Hut here is one devotional center where you qualify either as a spectator or worshiper ■ only if you have "goodwill". • • • Striped in fancy colors, with neither feet nor hands, snakes move noiselessly through the grass to nab their prey. Beware of the false teachers with a “msesage”. Strolling the streets during my last visit to the countyseat of the empire of Holt, I ventured into an office in the Golden hotel building to find Miss Florence Ponton seated at a desk. She arose from her seat and greeted me cordially. Her of fice is well appointed, orderly and inviting. Af flicted as Miss Ponton has been, she may well have become a charge on others, but rather has faced life with a smile of determination to be come an able business woman and take a place in the affairs of the community in which fate or fortune has found her. Miss Ponton has taken on a large order of insurance, real estate, loans j and bonds and puts tier name and seal to docu mets as a qualified notary. She told me business keeps her occupied on the job and she appears happy, along with her friends, to have it so. • * * F>ed Zimmer of Hartiglon, Jack Lough of Al bion, Ralph Cox of Arapahoe and Bob Bogue of Oakland composed a party of Nebraska newspaper editors that took to the air to witness the North Atlantic war games. . . Processed, bottled and some put into fancy cartons, taken around in j tlu'ee-thousand-dollar trucks with a $10 a day driver at the steering wheel—that’s why you pay 24 cents for a nickel's worth of milk. . . A threat ened strike of workers at a Lincoln plant employ ing many workers wras averted by an hourly in crease of a few cents in pay. The company pas ses it on to those buying their product. . . James Lawrence, for many years editor of the Lincoln Star and a member of the executive board of the Nebraska State Historical society, died Septem ber 17 at the age of 68. • • • Apples, peaches, pears, tomatoes in glass jars, row-upon-row on shelves, prepared by toiling , hands of wives and mothers looking well to the needs of households. Another "canning season" has put in store the fruits of tree and vine and will disappear through open mouths as winter days come and go. I do not wish for many fancy things, only to be there when the dinner bell rings and reach for the pear and peach those toiling hands had prepared for each and all of the household group lining up for their dish of flavored soup. • • • Sunlight spreads in radiance across the land scape as morning comes again and prairieland lies in calm autumn charm under a canopy of blue spread across the heavens. Morning passes, noonday has come and gone, evening and the glow of sunset, after that the dark; and the sheer delight of the starlit night when Northern Lights go out. Summer has passed, flowers faded and down the highway comes a day when we crawl into overcoats, cap and mittens. * * * Julius D. Cronin is now a bank president. I had hoped some day to see J. D. dispensing justice from one of our honorable judicial thrones. The passing of time has caught him in filthy lucre s grip and exhalted him to the presidency of one of the three or four banking houses, but he still stands at the top of the list of North Ne braska’s legal lights. • * • A gentleman from Havanna, Cuba, in Lin coln, I chanced to visit, having known him when he was a Nebraskan. He said the political sit uation on the island is tense—much the same as the situation the world around. He had come to Lincoln to see his son started in college and was Raveling by automobile and by ocean-going con veyance when reaching land’s end. “Can you imagine anybody craiy enough to get up thii early in the m©rwir>p *o qe fishing?" When You & I Were Young . . . Speed On Continues to Win At Tracks Dave Stannard’s Fast Pacer Clicks ’ 50 Years Ago Mrs. A. L. Cowperthwaite’s mother, Mrs. Ida Peterson of Bea rer Crossing, caught a 10-pound pickerel at South Fork The head c ai r: « l ■ • a i _ a /s _ l Oars Smack Trail’s End— A highway accident occured a bout 3:40 p.m., Friday, Septem ber 20, east of O’Neill near the Elkhom bridge. Ivan Couch of Inman was dri ver of a lead car. Following in another car was Louis Stallbaum of Ponca. They had been travel ing together eastbound, since leaving Alliance. Couch stated that his trans mission locked, causing his bar to slide sideways down the road. Stallbaum could not stop in time and smacked into Couch's car. No one was hurt. Bake Sale Planned Saturday at Inman INMAN The Womens depart ment of the RLDS church held its regular meeting Tuesday, afternoon, September 19, with Mrs. William C. Kelley. Plans were completed for the bake sale to ho held at the fall fest ival October 5. Mr. and Mrs. H. W. (“Pete") Hertford went to Fremont Mon day, September J3, to visit Mr. and Mrs C. W. Roberts for a few days. Dr. Donald E. David OPTOMETRIST Eyes Examined Glasses rttted Phone 2101 Spencer ST. PETER S CHURCH TURKEY DINNER Ewing, Nebr. Sunday, October 6 SERVING FROM 5:00 TO 8:00 l». M. Adults — $1.25 Children under 12 50c GAMES FOR ALL DANCE IN NEW ST. DOMINIC HALL With Don Shaw Orchestra 9:00 P. M. to I :00 A. M. Admission $1.00 Editorial— Bayonets Not the Answer In a peculiarly unfortuate manner the Little Rock incident (perhaps we should call it a trag edy) has caused a degree of disintegration of national unity and has given comfort to America's foes across the sea. Neither side in the struggle has been fairly represented. The supreme court edict of 1954, pressed for political reasons, resulted in an un precedented use of force, ie: escorting of colored students into a previously all-white school. On the other hand, the shouting mobs of Little Rock, which appeared only after a Northern federal judge had ordered Governor Faubus to remove state troops, did not represent the intelligent Southern people whose deep feelings in the matter date back for generations. It would be folly for any one to say the Negro of the South has not been abused and restrained. It would be unfair to say that the black race has not been making big strides—particularly since World War n. President Eisenhower made a horrible mis take in throwing federal troops into the arena— an abuse of the states' rights principle that might have far-reaching and unending effect. The Omaha World-Herald goes so far as to say the bayonet etablishes the principle; the atom bomb for Little Rock could be next because from now on it's a matter of degree. The New York Daily News points out that the U.S. supreme court jurists of 1954 and 1957 arrange to send their sons and daughters to all white schools. Governor Faubus, on the other hand, sends his son to an integrated college in Ar kansas—a state college—which became integrated UIILC r ttUUUS UCVOUK’ ^UVtT UD1 . 1UC XII naiiooc governor has appointed Negroes to boards and commissions, elevating them to highest positions the race has ever known in that state. Hie Christian Science Monitor, which usually beats the drums for Ike, says: "Those who dream that federal forces are a final answer (to Integration) face a sharp awakening.” Two weeks ago in these columns (the day be fore the Newport. R_I., conference between Ike and Faubus) we proclaimed the states’ rights principle to be the most serious aspect of the Lit tle Rock picture, and we proclaimed support of that principle. In the light of what has happened we reaffirm our position Little Rock was bound to happen some where as the South prepares for "massive re sistance” to integration. It is probably better the showdown should take place there rather than In the deep, deep South. The downtrodden Negro will be the loser; may be set back a hundred years. Ike’s quest for the Negro vote will backfire because, as David Lawrence of U S. News & World Report says, for every Negro vote that is gained the republicans will lose 10 Northern votes out of distaste for mil itary thinking that applies force to a social problem and kisses off the statbs’ rights principle, which is a basic in our American form of government. One need not look too far in our own area to find racial segregation. The federal government maintains Indian reservations on a segregated basis, and, in some communities, unruly Indians are ordered out of town when the sun goes down. Shades of the South! Gov. Frank Gement of Tennessee estimates 90 to 95 percent of the whites and blacks in his state are contented with thq status quo, which sees the lot of the Negro improvingly slowly but stead ily. Water Is Treasure So profligate have we been with our abundant water supply, that water has become our most precious natural resource. More precious than gold or oil or gas or timber or even uranium. For, like air, water is essential to life. You can go without food longer than you can go with out water. You can feed on yourself but only a camel carries his own reservoir of water. The experts who are paid to know such things tell us that industry will soon be as careful to lo cate plants where water supply is ample as once it sought sites along railroad rights-of-way or near markets. It is going back to the days when towns located along rivers for navigation, only now it’s not navigation, but water to drink and wash and cure. North Nebraska — particularly northeast Ne braska is blessed with an abundance of streams. The Conoco Touraide is authority for the fact that the northeast sector of this state lias more river mileage than any state in the union. Take our own locale for example. Beginning near the southern boundary of Holt and proceeding north ward you encounter a host of man-sized streams some of which are not seen from highways: Cedar. Cache, South Fork, Elkhom, Eagle, Ked bird, Eagle, Ponca, Verdigre, Missouri. Most of our socalled creeks are rivers by standards in the East or in England. The Niobrara is the swiftest plains steam in the world. A lxx)k might be written on the phenomena of the flowing wells in southern Holt—where you almost draw water by sticking an endgate rod in the ground. Water seems to be in abundance here. CARROLL W. STEWART, Editor and Publisher Entered at the postoffice in O'Neill, Holt coun ty, Nebraska, as second-class mall matter under the Act of Congress of March 3, 1879. This news paper is a member of the Nebraska Press Associa tion, National Editorial Association and the Audit Bureau of Circulations. Terms of Subscription: In Nebraska, 52.50 per year; elsewhere in the United States, 53 per year; rates abroad provided upon request All sub ui i-iit 11.ill w an CAiuuucvi ai viui agher’s store. . . Dave Stannard’s fast pacer, Speed On, is still win ning the money. . . Ann Carroll O’Neill, 82, mother of Hugh O’ Neill. died at her son’s home 30 miles north of here. . . Mr. and Mrs. Jake Ernst, sr., returned from a three weeks’ visit with rel atives and friends in South Da kota, Sioux City and LeMars, la. 20 Years Ago Supervisor John A. Carson’s auto was stolen in front of the courthouse. . . Robert Earley and Ernest Steskal, north of Emmet, were injured in an auto accident. . . . Deaths: Joseph Boyle, 56. . . Omaha Bee-News was sold to the World-Herald. . . Walter De Vall ran a rusty nail in his foot. . . . Rev. P. F. Burke, who has been assistant at St. Patrick’s church, was transferred to North Omaha. 10 Years Ago Michael (“Mike") O'Sullivan of! Phoenix, Ariz., formerly of O’ Neill, was “snubbed” in a fash ionable Boston restaurant because he did not and would not wear a coat to breakfast. He was asked to leave He wrote a letter to the | Boston Herald and was rebuked. . . . Rosetta Bradley, 4, daughter of Mrs. Alfred Bradley, returned from a Lincoln hospital after be ing treated for polio. . . Ivan Pruss suffered a severe injury to his right arm near the wrist in a power saw accident. One Year Ago Ralph Tooker, an employee of the Municipal airport, suffered a broken leg when his car overturn ed. . . Deaths: Homer E. Asher, 59; Mrs. May M. Landis, 68; Mrs. Nora Henderson, 84, of Page; Joseph Niezgoclri, 87, of Atkinson. Pamphlets, Recipes Are Distributed EWING—The Facts and Fun Home extension club met last Thursday afternoon at the home Of Mrs. Harry Van Horn. The lesson and demonstration I on “Cookies”, presented by Mrs Van Horn and Mrs. J. L. Prudent included topics on kinds of cook ies. decorating, storing and kinds and best for mailing. A general discussion brought out some in teresting experiences of the homemakers present. Pamphlets and recipes were given each fol lowing the demonstration. Guests were Mrs. Mary Malone from California, Mrs. Robert Van Horn of Page and Mrs. Frank Schmidt, who became a member. Lunch was served by the hostess. Next meeting of the club will be held Thursday, October 8, when the lesson to be given will be "The Lady and the Law.” DR. H. D. GILDERSLEEVK OPTOMETRIST Northeast Corner of 4th & Douglas O’NEILL, NEBR. Phone 167 Office Hours: 9-5 Eyes Examined — Glasses Kitted Monday Thru Saturday f-irtMt food AttWjqpj... 1 AT LOWEST COST PER CUBIC FOOT! ONLY FREEZER GUARANTEED TO OUTPERFORM ALL OTHERS! Fastest Freezing Method: Exclusive Amana-matic freezing freezes more foods faster. More economically, too. Six fast-freezing surfaces — including extra freezing coils in top and bottom. 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